College Football Coach Hire Grades: Tulane

Tulane Green Wave: Jon Sumrall

Why the job was open: Tulane was once a long struggling program, even making bowl games was tough for the Green Wave. They hired Willie Fritz, a proven winner, to help fix that. It worked out tremendously. Tulane started making bowls and at the same time they made huge strides elsewhere too. Their on-campus stadium provided new excitement and bringing back the Angry Wave logo really helped this program’s branding take off. Willie Fritz hit a milestone with the program in 2022, winning the AAC championship and making the Cotton Bowl. It hit a new level with a comeback win that was one of the best NY6 bowls in recent memory. They followed it up with a strong season this year before Fritz moved on to Houston.

Coach Profile: Sumrall spent a lot of time early in his career as an assistant at a few stops, primarily at Tulane and Kentucky. Oddly enough he never was the primary DC but was Co-DC multiple times. Sumrall got his first head coaching job with the Troy Trojans and found immediate success. The Trojans went 12-2, won a very good Sun Belt, beat a ranked UTSA in the Cure Bowl and finished 19th in the final AP poll. Good enough to be considered the best season in Troy football history. All he did was follow it up with another Sun Belt Title and 11-2 record in 2023, not too shabby!

Why he will succeed: It starts with the program being in great shape, this isn’t the Tulane of old, success isn’t a random good season here or there. This program is setup to be the flagship program of the AAC. They’re in a prime location, nice on-campus stadium and yes, with the Angry Wave logo they have great branding too. It also helps that Sumrall has won a minimum of 11 games and a conference title during his time as a head coach so far. Sumrall seems to have a great mix of player development, recruiting and a willingness to find skill talent from the portal.

What obstacles are in the way of success: It’s been a while since this program was led by someone other than Willie Fritz, who is a very successful coach in his own right, how will that go? The pressure will be on to succeed immediately, there will be a lot of angst if the momentum this program has begins to slip. A concern more for the Tulane side is how long will Sumrall be around? Could he be SEC bound after one successful season?

Grade: A+ – When this job came open I was worried about Tulane’s future, how could the Green Wave replace the guy who built the program back up? Sumrall was their target from the start and was the only guy who could be equal to Fritz or even elevate this program further. Tulane knocked it out of the park with this hire.